In-house Roundhouse

Allen O’Rourke and Mark discuss the common issues companies face when involved with a federal cybercrime investigation. Allen recently joined Womble Carlyle after serving six years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C. specializing in cybercrime.

Rob DelPriore, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Mid-America Apartment Communities, drops by the studio to talk with Mark about the challenges of integrating companies post-merger or acquisition. Rob led the Integration Team when Mid-America acquired Post Properties, Inc. last year. That merger has made MAA one the largest Real Estate Investment Trusts in the nation’s multi-family housing sector.

It’s official, the UK is leaving the European Union, making trade relations with the US about as significant as they have ever been. Jeremy Pilmore-Bedford, Consul General in Atlanta, discusses with Mark how that’s shaping up on the ground both in the US and the UK.

Chris Fairey, General Counsel for American Residential Services, one of the nation’s largest residential and commercial heating, air-conditioning, and plumbing services companies, sits down with Mark to discuss arbitration clauses in employee contracts and beyond.

Mark and his guests, Womble attorney Ted Claypoole and David Hartgen, UNC Charlotte professor emeritus and transportation expert, weigh the legal, political and psychological hurdles autonomous vehicles must traverse in the near and long-term.

Our guests for this episode are Christiaan Mazza, Legal Counsel with Valencell, Inc., a leading innovator in high-performance biometric sensor technology for wearables, and Ted Claypoole, who heads up Womble Carlyle’s Privacy and Data Protection team. They join Mark to discuss how innovation is improving our lives while also creating new legal questions.

Inspired by the insightful and funny automotive advice tossed around during episodes of NPR’s “Car Talk,” Peter Barr, Counsel at Rack Room Shoes, has created a list of rules every GC should know when creating or reviewing a contract. He and Mark discuss the list, his career and shoe-related trivia.

North Carolina legislator and Womble attorney Jeff Jackson joins Mark to chat about what the Trump administration might look like, how Roy Cooper’s election to the N.C. governor’s seat could impact the state, and generally what the 2016 election results mean for business in the U.S.

The GC of a leading manufacturer shares his first-hand experience dealing with a ransomware attack and provides some valuable lessons learned. Mark and fellow Womble attorney Claire Rauscher talk with him about the challenges corporate leaders face when a company’s data is breached, including why it’s important not to overreact and how to work with law enforcement.

For the modern GC, managing legal spend is nearly as important as managing risk. But, as our guest explains, there’s a difference between “managing” a budget and simply cutting costs. Jeremey Smuckler, Vice President General Counsel with ACN, Inc., and Mark trade perspectives on legal spend in this episode, including weighing the pros and cons of alternative fee arrangements, emphasizing the value of communication, and pondering the true longevity of snack cakes.